Posts Tagged ‘Droid Repair’

Verizon’s ad spending: $100 per Droid?

Wednesday, November 11th, 2009

Going after AT&T’s network and Apple’s iPhone could prove an expensive proposition

Droid ad

Broadpoint AmTech analyst Mark McKechnie’s estimate that Motorola (MOT) sold 100,000 Droid smartphones last weekend has been getting a lot of attention, although nobody’s quite sure what to make of it. McKechnie called the number “encouraging.” Nielsen’s Roger Entner found it “a little troubling.” IDC’s Ramon Llama said it was “nothing to shrug off.”

Part of the problem is that everybody is comparing Motorola to Apple (AAPL), which sold 270,000 iPhones in its first two days of sales in 2007 and 1 million iPhone 3GSs in three days last June. The consensus on the Street is that Motorola will do well to sell 1 million Droids by the end of the year.

The other problem — and the reason Nielsen’s Entner is so troubled — is that the ground had been softened for the Droid by a carpet-bombing ad campaign, the biggest in Verizon’s (VZ) history. According to Ad Age’s Rita Chang, the carrier has budgeted $100 million to support the Droid, most of it to be spent before the end of the year.

You can do the math.

How can Verizon afford to spend $100 per sale for a $199 (after $100 rebate) phone it is already subsidizing to the tune of hundreds of dollars apiece?

Island of misfit toys

My theory is that the real purpose of Verizon’s campaign is not to attack the iPhone or even to sell Droids. The carrier’s true enemy is AT&T (T), to which it has been hemorrhaging subscribers ever since the iPhone arrived.

Note that the iPhone only appears briefly in the “there’s a map for that” TV ads that targeted AT&T’s nationwide coverage. Verizon’s latest TV campaign is even gentler, as if the iPhone could leave the island of misfit toys if it only had a better 3G network.

“Makes sense if you want the iPhone to be on your shelves one day,” says a former advertising executive who watches Apple closely. “Push the Droid (without comparing it to the iPhone), but push your network as better than AT&T, and hope you gain enough traction with it to help persuade Cupertino that coming on board would be a good thing.”

The contract that made AT&T the iPhone’s exclusive U.S. carrier is reported to be expiring in 2010. According to AppleInsider, Apple has already signed up Taiwanese suppliers to build a hybrid “worldmode” iPhone that would run on Verizon’s network.

Source: http://brainstormtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com

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Posted in Motorola Repair | 1 Comment »

Verizon Droid’s Secret Weapon: Android 2.0

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

The Verizon Droid is coming. You have probably seen the clever ‘iDon’t’ ad campaign attacking the iPhone and ending with an ominous, you-will-be-assimilated sort of message. They left something off of the ‘iDon’t’ list: ‘iDon’t integrate well with business tools and networks.’

Verizon Droid Motorola Repair at Dr. Cell Phone

Verizon Droid Motorola Repair at Dr. Cell Phone

Actually, Verizon did sort of put that on the iDon’t list, just not in those words. The original iDon’t list includes both ‘iDon’t allow open development’ and ‘iDon’t customize’, both of which imply that the Droid does those things which means the Droid provides a customizable, open development platform that business customers can work with.

The Droid, which is Verizon’s rebranded version of the Motorola Sholes device, is slated to be the first of the Android 2.0 generation. Rumors suggest that the cryptic alien message on the Verizon Droid site can be decoded to say the Droid will be coming on October 30. Verizon is officially unveiling details about the Droid today.

According to the leaked specifications, the Droid may very well live up to the iPhone killer hype. The 3.7 inch, capacitive display has significantly higher resolution than the iPhone. The Droid has a fast processor, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, a 5 megapixel camera with zoom and flash. It sounds like it has the features and functions to go where previous iPhone killers like the Pre have failed.

But, from a business perspective the most impressive feature of the slick new device may be the operating system. Lots of phones have cameras, or GPS, or Wi-Fi networking, but not many are as open to custom development as devices built on Google’s open source Android operating system. And, no other device yet is built on the latest Android 2.0 operating system.

Not only does the open source nature of the operating system allow for easier development and customization, but it also results in a much faster development timeframe for the operating system itself. While platforms like the iPhone and Windows Mobile take a year or more to roll out new versions, Android has gone from Cupcake to Donut (SDK 1.6) and now to Éclair (SDK 2.0). The public collaborative nature of open source projects allows for faster development.

The success of the device though is a combination of the operating system and the hardware. There are plenty of other Android-based devices, including the Motorola Cliq and the Samsung Behold II. They are also very capable, but they don’t have the impressive hardware specs of the Droid and they aren’t available from the number one wireless service provider in the United States.

The iDon’t ad campaign and the rumors circulating around the Droid are starting to sound like the ‘Bo knows’ ad campaign Nike ran back in the 80’s, or the ridiculous urban legend stories attributed to Chuck Norris, or that Dos Equis beer guy.

Unlike Chuck Norris though, the Droid may actually be able to live up to the hype and rumors. At the very least, it provides corporate customers with a feature-filled device on par with the iPhone, but with the added benefit of being open and customizable so it can integrate with business.

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Posted in Cell Phone Repair | 1 Comment »

Droid lacks Apple’s secret weapon: iTunes

Tuesday, October 20th, 2009

Apple outstripped Wall Street’s expectations for the quarter ended September 30, and while the blowout quarter was mostly thanks to higher-than-expected Mac sales, the company also sold a record 7.4 million iPhones. But a lot of commentators think that the iPhone is finally going to meet its match with Droid.

Dr. Cell Phone Getting Ready to Repair Motorola Verizon Droid

Dr. Cell Phone Getting Ready to Repair Motorola Verizon Droid

Announced this weekend by Verizon in a cheeky TV commercial, the Droid is a Motorola phone running Google’s Android 2.0 operating system. The advertisement notes that the Droid will do things that the iPhone won’t, like take pictures in the dark and run simultaneous apps (apparently playing music in the background, as the iPhone can do, doesn’t count), and touts its open development process (a head-scratcher for non-techies, but it could mean more apps than the iPhone, someday). The first preview I’ve seen, from Boy Genius Report, was also positive. People are excited, and for good reason–competition drives innovation, which is good for consumers.

But here’s the thing: one reason for the runaway success of the iPhone–and one of the reasons why Apple still continues to sell more than 10 million iPods per quarter–is iTunes. Not so much the store, although that’s an important component, but the software. Of course there are plenty of other applications out there that help you rip CDs and organize your digital music collection. And there are plenty of other sources for online music. But the real strength of iTunes is in the sync process–you plug your iPhone in, iTunes opens up automatically and recognizes it. Hit the large “Sync” button and it automatically loads your music (and video, and apps, and anything else you choose) onto it. (With some devices, depending on your settings, you don’t even need to hit “Sync.”) That’s the simple, consumer-friendly, end-to-end experience that Apple figured out first.

Contrast that with the multi-step process required to transfer music from a Windows PC to the first Android phone that was available in the U.S., last year’s G1. Amazon provided over-the-air MP3 downloads for that phone, giving it a rough equivalent to the over-the-air version of the iTunes store, but let’s face it: most digital music is not purchased, but is ripped from a CD or comes from some other source (legal or not).

Verizon, Motorola, and Google haven’t said much about music for the Droid. Maybe they still have a musical trick or two up their collective sleeves. But without some sort of equivalent to the iTunes desktop application, the Droid may be a great phone, but it won’t be a great music phone.

Source:http://news.cnet.com/8301-13526_3-10378321-27.html

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